Martyr

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

1. The name. -‘Martyr’ is given as the rendering of μάρτυς in the Revised Versiononly in  Revelation 17:6. The word is used in practically the same sense in  Revelation 2:13 (Antipas) and  Acts 22:20 (Stephen), but is in both passages translated ‘ witness .’ As Jesus is said to have ‘witnessed’ by accepting death ( Revelation 1:5; cf.  1 Timothy 6:13), the expression was appropriately transferred to His followers who suffered for Him. The absolute use of μαρτυρία and μαρτυρεῖν to signify this did not become fixed until the middle of the 2nd cent. (see J. B. Lightfoot on Clem. ad Cor . v. in Apostolic Fathers , I. ii. [1890] 26).

2. The position of Christians. -Our Lord warned His disciples that active hostility would be the normal attitude of the world toward the Church ( Matthew 5:11). The Apostolic Age provided a continuous commentary on this saying. It is customary to distinguish one or two epochs in that period as moments of great persecution. But this must not obscure the truth that persecution seldom ceased altogether. In the first days of the Church this was exclusively the work of Jews. Besides the attacks mentioned in the Acts there were others to which we have only passing allusions ( e.g.  1 Thessalonians 2:14,  James 2:6;  James 5:10,  Hebrews 10:34). These prove that the Jews, not only of Palestine, but also of the Dispersion, were active in compelling Christians to pay for their faith by enduring legal and social oppression. The Romans did not at first discriminate between Jews and Christians, and extended to the latter the privileged toleration accorded to the former. This confusion of thought appears in the statement of Suetonius ( Claud. 25) that Jewish disorders were provoked by ‘Chrestus,’ and in the notion of Lysias that St. Paul was one of the Zealots ( Acts 21:38). But under Nero the Imperial policy changed. The mere profession of Christianity now became matter for a capital charge (see this maintained in Hardy, Studies in Roman History , ch. iv., as against Ramsay, in Church in the Roman Empire 5, ch. xi. sect. 7). By both people and rulers it was held to involve ‘odium humani generis.’ It incurred popular hatred because of the divisions which it introduced into family and social life. It became a political crime through its incompatibility with Caesar-worship, its refusal to ‘worship the image of the beast’ ( Revelation 13:15), which led the Roman authorities to regard it as anarchy. No special laws were passed against it, but there were standing police orders that it should be suppressed. This policy was steadily maintained, and such a reference as that made by Pliny in his letter to Trajan ( Epp. x. 97) concerning an unknown persecution in Bithynia twenty years before shows that there must have been much official activity against Christians of which no record survives. The NT reflects the consciousness of the change in the attitude of the government. In Acts Rome is the power which protects Christians against Jewish assault ( Acts 25:10); in the Apocalypse Rome is drunk with the blood of the saints ( Revelation 17:6).

3. The number of the martyrs. -Later ages naturally tended to exaggerate this in order to add glory to the Church. It was held that the truest following of Christ was found among those who had been put to death for His name. Legends grew up which in time invested every member of the apostolic college with the martyr’s halo (a collection of these stories may be seen in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library , vol. xvi. [1873]). It is instructive to note that Clem. Alex. ( Strom. iv. 9) quotes an early protest against supposing that salvation belonged to martyrs only, which is justified by citing the instances of some of the apostles who had died a natural death. But it remains true that the Biblical and other records leave the impression that great numbers of believers were slain in the 1st century. In the Jewish persecution Saul is said to have entered into every house ( Acts 8:3), and to have searched every synagogue for Christians. The number of converts was already considerable in Jerusalem (cf.  Acts 2:41;  Acts 2:47;  Acts 6:7), so that, unless we hold (with R. B. Rackham, Acts of the Apostles , 1901) that he pursued Hellenists only, the list of sufferers must have been very large. Imprisonment, beating, and even death, the Romans presumably conniving, were the penalties incurred ( Acts 22:4-5;  Acts 22:19). On this occasion the leaders of the Church seem to have escaped, but the next onslaught affected them specially (Acts 12). James the son of Zebedee fell, and Peter was cast into prison. These attacks left a lasting impression on the Church (cf.  1 Thessalonians 2:14).

Still heavier was the toll of martyrs exacted by the Roman persecutions of the 1st century. Tacitus ( Ann. xv. 44) speaks of a multitudo ingens of victims in the Neronian outbreak, and to this answers the πολὺ πλῆθος of Clem. Rom. ( ad Cor. vi.). In  Revelation 13:7 testimony is borne to the thoroughness with which the whole of the Empire was made to feel the effects of this policy. The same impression is conveyed by  1 Peter 5:8-9. The adversary’s rage is like the fury of a lion; all over the Roman world Christians are united in a community of suffering. It is noteworthy that both Jewish and Gentile persecutors seem to have found a special object of attack in the Christian prophets, who were no doubt brought into prominence by their preaching of the gospel (cf.  1 Thessalonians 2:15,  Revelation 16:6;  Revelation 18:24). The horrors inflicted by the Roman torturers may be gathered from the two passages of Tacitus and Clement mentioned above. The victims were crucified, or, by a diabolical refinement of cruelty, clad in the skins of beasts to serve as the quarry of dogs. At nightfall they were smeared with pitch to stand as living torches in the gardens of Nero. For women there were brutalities more shameful than death.

4. The historic martyrs. -Among those who were done to death in the Jewish persecutions mentioned in the Acts the names of two only are preserved-Stephen, and James the son of Zebedee. Stephen was nominally charged with blasphemy, but the proceedings were no trial in any legal sense, and, if the Sanhedrin were ever called to account for them, they doubtless pleaded that a sudden and uncontrollable tumult had occurred. Of the martyrdom of James the account is in  Acts 12:2 and in Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.) ii. 9, quoting Clement of Alexandria. James was beheaded, and his bearing so impressed his accuser that it converted him, and he suffered with the apostle. This must have been before a.d. 44, as in that year Herod Agrippa died. Attempts have recently been made ( e.g. by W. Bousset, Die Offenbarung Johannis 5, 1896, pp. 47-8) to establish the allegation of Philip of Side that Papias had said that John the Apostle was slain with his brother. But if this were so, the silence of  Acts 12:2 is incomprehensible. We have no reason to suppose that John died anything but a natural death. The stories of his escape from the boiling cauldron before the Latin Gate, and of his drinking poison without harm, come from Gnostic Acta Johannis of the 2nd century. Some years after the passion of the first James, another James, ‘the Lord’s brother,’ was murdered (? a.d. 61). Ananus, the high priest, in the interval between the death of Festus and the arrival of Albinus, caused him to be stoned. The dramatic account of his end given by Hegesippus is preserved in Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.) ii. 23. A shorter and more authentic record may be found in Josephus, Ant. XX. ix. 1 (see J. B. Mayor, Ep. of St. James 3, 1910, p. xxxix).

In Rome the first shadow of the Neronian persecution fell upon Pomponia Graecina. The evidence of the Catacombs has made it almost certain that the ‘foreign superstition’ with which she was charged (Tac. Ann. xiii. 32) was Christianity (cf. Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers , I. i. 30). Her trial resulted in her acquittal (a.d. 57). Seven years later Rome was burnt, and Nero turned the popular rage against the Christians. His success cost the Church on earth the lives not only of a great host of unknown saints but also of St. Peter and St. Paul. Lightfoot points out (on Clem. Rom. ad Cor. v.) that the NT raises the expectation that these two would be martyrs. In  John 21:18 there is what is virtually a description of St. Peter’s death, and in  2 Timothy 4:6 ff. St. Paul writes as one who knew that his end was near. That they both suffered in Rome is a constant tradition. Clement ( loc. cit. ) couples them together as ‘athletes’ who ‘struggled to the death,’ and were familiar to Roman believers. Ignatius ( ad Rom. iv.) implies that both had been teachers of authority in Rome. Eusebius ( Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.) ii. 25) collects testimonies to the same effect. He cites Dionysius of Corinth as asserting that both apostles suffered about the same time in Rome, and adds, from the Roman Gaius, a minute description of their tombs. Tertullian ( Scorp. 15, de Praescr. 36) affirms that St. Peter was crucified, and Origen ( ap. Euseb. Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.) iii. 1) says that he was, at his own request, placed on the cross head downwards. The ‘Domine, quo vadis?’ story is preserved in pseudo-Ambrose, Sermo contra Auxentium . St. Peter’s death may be dated in the early days of the Neronian persecution (a.d. 64). His Epistle implies an imminent onslaught, and the tradition which puts his grave in the Vatican suggests that he was among the victims butchered there after the great fire. Eusebius ( Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.) iii. 30) repeats the story of Clem. Alex. that the Apostle before his own death saw his wife led away to execution, and comforted her in a manner typical of Christian martyrs. He ‘rejoiced because she had been called and was going home.’ Tertullian and Origen, in the passages to which allusion is made above, name Rome as the scene of St. Paul’s martyrdom, and Tertullian’s expression is to the effect that he was beheaded. Jerome ( de Vir. Illustr. v.) alleges that the two apostles died on the same day. This, though supported by the commemoration of both on 29th June, is in itself improbable and the tradition varies (cf. L. Duchesne, Lib. Pont. , 1886-92, i. 119).

The date of the death of Antipas of Pergamum ( Revelation 2:13) was, according to legend, in the reign of Domitian, when he was burnt to death in a brazen bull. But the phrase ‘in the days of Antipas’ suggests a date some years before the words were written, and Antipas was probably killed in some unknown persecution under the earlier Flavians.

Under Domitian suffered three persons whose Christianity, if not absolutely certain, is highly probable. The Emperor’s own cousin, the consul Flavius Clemens, was condemned, according to Suetonius ( Domitian , 15), ‘ex tenuissima suspicione.’ If Clemens was a Christian, he would be unable to take part in public functions which involved Emperor-worship. This fits in with the assertion of Dio Cassius (lxvii. 14) that he was charged with ἀθεότης, i.e. ‘sacrilege,’ and with practising ‘Jewish’ ways. It also explains the scornful verdict of Suetonius that he displayed ‘contemptible indolence.’ At the same time his wife, Domitilla, was banished to Pontia (Jerome, Ep. 108 [or 86], ‘ad Eustochium’). With these two Dio couples M’. Acilius Glabrio as a victim of Domitian’s fury. The evidence as to his religion is inconclusive. Lightfoot’s denial of his Christianity ( Apostolic Fathers , I. i. 81 n.[Note: . note.]) is questioned by Ramsay ( op. cit. p. 261).

With Trajan we reach the last martyr of this period. It is related in Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.) iii. 32, that Symeon the son of Clopas, ‘the second bishop of Jerusalem,’ was arrested on the ground that he was descended from David, and was a Christian. After many days of torture he was crucified. With him, in the opinion of Eusebius, passed away the last survivor of the Apostolic Age.

Literature.-H. B. Workman, Persecution in the Early Church 3, London, 1911 (with full bibliography); A. J. Mason, Historic Martyrs of the Primitive Church , do., 1905; B. F. Westcott, The Two Empires , do., 1909, ch. ii.; H. M. Gwatkin, Early Church History , do., 1909, vol. i. chs. v.-vii.; W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire 5, do., 1897, chs. x.-xvi.; E. G. Hardy, Studies in Roman History (formerly, Christianity and the Roman Government ), do., 1906; H. B. Swete, Apocalypse of St. John 2 , do., 1907, Introd., sect. vii.

C. T. Dimont.

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

Is one who lays down his life or suffers death for the sake of his religion. The word is Greek, and properly signifies a "witness." It is applied by way of eminence to those who suffer in witness of the truth of the Gospel. The Christian church has abounded with martyrs, and history is filled with surprising accounts of their singular constancy and fortitude under the cruelest torments human nature was capable of suffering. The primitive Christians were accused by their enemies of paying a sort of divine worship to martyrs. Of this we have an instance in the answer of the church of Smyrna to the suggestion of the Jews, who, at the martyrdom of Polycarp, desired the heathen judge not to suffer the Christians to carry off his body, lest they should leave their crucified master, and worship him in his stead. To which they answered, "We can neither forsake Christ, nor worship any other; for we worship him as the Son of God; but love the martyrs as the disciples and followers of the Lord, for the great affection they have shown to their King and Master." A like answer was given at the martyrdom of Fructuosus in Spain; for when the judge asked Eulogius, his deacon, whether he would not worship Fructuosus, as thinking, that, though he refused to worship the heathen idols, he might yet be inclined to worship a Christian martyr, Eulogius replied, "I do not worship Fructuosus, but him whom Fructuosus worships."

The primitive Christians believed that the martyrs enjoyed every singular privileges; that upon their death they were immediately admitted to the beatific vision, while other souls waited for the completion of their happiness till the day of judgment; and that God would grant to their prayers the hastening of his kingdom, and shortening the times of persecution. Perhaps this consideration might excite many to court martyrdom, as we believe many did. It must be recollected, however, that martyrdom in itself is no proof of the goodness of our cause, only that we ourselves are persuaded that it is so. "It is not the blood, but the cause that makes the martyr." (Mead.) Yet we may consider the number and fortitude of those who have suffered for Christianity as a collateral proof at least of its excellency; for the thing for which they suffered was not a point of speculation, but a plain matter of fact, in which (had it been false) they could not have been mistaken. The martyrdom, therefore, of so many wise and good men, taken with a view of the whole system of Christianity, will certainly afford something considerable in its favour. The churches built over the graves of the martyrs, and called by their names, in order to preserve the memory of their sufferings, were distinguished by the title martyrium confessio, or memoria.

The festivals of the martyrs are of very ancient date in the Christian church, and may be carried back at least from the time of Polycarp, who suffered martyrdom about the year of Christ 168. On these days the Christians met at the graves of the martyrs, and offered prayers and thanksgivings to God for the example they had afforded them: they celebrated the eucharist, and gave alms to the poor; which, together with a panegyrical oration or sermon, and reading the acts of the martyrs, were the spiritual exercises of these anniversaries. Of the sayings, sufferings, and deaths of the martyrs, though preserved with great care for the above purpose, and to serve as models to future ages, we have but very little left, the greatest part of them having been destroyed during that dreadful persecution which Dioclesian carried on for ten years with fresh fury against the Christians; for a most diligent search was then made after all their books and papers; and all of them that were found were committed to the flames. Eusebius, indeed, composed a martyrology, but it never reached down to us; and those since compiled are extremely suspected. From the eighth century downwards, several Greek and Latin authors endeavoured to make up the loss, by compiling, with vast labour, accounts of the lives and actions of the ancient martyrs, but which consist of the little else than a series of fables: nor are those records that pass under the name of martyrology worthy of superior credit, since they bear the most evident marks both of ignorance and falsehood.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The Greek word is μάρτυς, and is very frequently translated 'witness;' a martyr is one who meets with death because of the witness he bears. Stephen was a martyr,  Acts 22:20; also Antipas,  Revelation 2:13 . The 'two witnesses ' in  Revelation 11 will also be martyrs, and Babylon the Great is charged with being drunken "with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus."   Revelation 17:6 . The history of the church records the faithfulness of many of these. There can be no doubt that many of the O.T. saints also died as martyrs. Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah.  1 Kings 18:13 . The Lord charged the Pharisees with being the children of them which killed the prophets,  Matthew 23:31; and in the "cloud of witnesses" spoken of in  Hebrews 11 , were some of whom it is said "others were tortured [ lit. broken on the wheel], not accepting deliverance, " as many martyrs since then might have saved their lives by denying their faith. Christ Himself was the faithful and true witness,  Revelation 1:5;  Revelation 3:14; and He said to His persecutors, "Ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you . . . . ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth."  John 8:37,40 . Thus the Lord Jesus was the true Martyr, though His death comprehended much more than dying as a martyr, namely, atonement.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A witness,  Matthew 18:16   Luke 24:48; in ecclesiastical history, "a witness, by the shedding of his blood, in testifying to the truth." Thus martyrs are distinguished from "confessors," properly so called, who underwent great afflictions for their confession of the truth, but without suffering death. The term "martyr" occurs only thrice in the New Testament,  Acts 22:20   Revelation 2:13   17:6 . Since the time of Stephen,  Acts 7:59   22:20 , myriads of martyrs have sealed the truth of Christianity by a painful death; which they willingly endured through faith, rather than to deny Christ, and which they often eagerly desired as a special privilege. It is doubtless possible to be put to death as a Christian, without real love for Christ,  1 Corinthians 13:3; but in general "the noble army of the martyrs" have borne a true and overwhelming testimony to the power and preciousness of faith in Christ; and their blood witnesses before God against their foes, especially against that apostate church which is "drunken with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,"  Revelation 17:6 .

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Martyrs are those who stand firm in the midst of persecution and willingly suffers death rather than deny their faith ( Acts 7:54-60;  Acts 12:1-2;  Acts 22:20;  Revelation 2:13). The word ‘martyr’ comes from the Greek word that is used in the New Testament for ‘witness’ and ‘testimony’. People became known as martyrs when they died because of their witness, or testimony, to their Lord ( Revelation 6:9-11;  Revelation 12:11;  Revelation 17:6;  Revelation 20:4).

In the end the victors will be the martyrs, not their opponents. The basis of this assured victory is the death and resurrection of Christ, who is himself the faithful and true witness ( 2 Timothy 4:6-8;  2 Timothy 4:18 Revelation 12:10-11

Easton's Bible Dictionary

As of one bearing testimony to the truth of what he has seen or known ( Luke 24:48;  Acts 1:8,22;  Romans 1:9;  1 Thessalonians 2:5,10;  1 John 1:2 ).

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Martyr'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/m/martyr.html. 1897.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) One who, by his death, bears witness to the truth of the gospel; one who is put to death for his religion; as, Stephen was the first Christian martyr.

(2): ( v. t.) To persecute; to torment; to torture.

(3): ( n.) Hence, one who sacrifices his life, his station, or what is of great value to him, for the sake of principle, or to sustain a cause.

(4): ( v. t.) To put to death for adhering to some belief, esp. Christianity; to sacrifice on account of faith or profession.

King James Dictionary

M`ARTYR, n. Gr. a witness. One who, by his death, bears witness to the truth of the gospel. Stephen was the first christian martyr.

To be a martyr signifies only to witness the truth of Christ.

1. One who suffers death in defense of any cause. We say, a man dies a martyr to his political principles or to the cause of liberty.

M`ARTYR, To put to death for adhering to what one believes to be the truth to sacrifice one on account of his faith or profession.

1. To murder to destroy.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Martyr See Witness.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( Μάρτυς and Μάρτυρ , so rendered only in  Acts 22:20;  Revelation 2:13;  Revelation 18:6) is properly a witness, and is applied in the New Testament

(a) to judicial witnesses ( Matthew 18:16;  Matthew 26:65;  Mark 14:63;  Acts 6:13;  Acts 7:58;  2 Corinthians 13:1;  1 Timothy 5:19;  Hebrews 10:28. The Septuagint also uses it for the Hebrew עֵד , Ed, in  Deuteronomy 17:16;  Proverbs 24:28);

(b) To one who has testified, or can testify to the truth of what he has seen, heard, or known. This is a frequent sense in the New Testament, as in  Luke 24:48;  Acts 1:8;  Acts 1:22;  Romans 1:9;  2 Corinthians 1:23;  1 Thessalonians 2:5;  1 Thessalonians 2:10;  1 Timothy 6:12;  2 Timothy 2:2;  1 Peter 5:1;  Revelation 1:5;  Revelation 3:14;  Revelation 11:3, and elsewhere.

(c) The meaning of the word which has now become the most usual. is that in which it occurs most rarely in the Scriptures, i.e. one who by his death bears witness to the truth. In this sense we only find it in  Acts 22:20;  Revelation 2:13;  Revelation 17:6. This now exclusive sense of the word was brought into general use by the early ecclesiastical writers, who applied it to every one who suffered death in the Christian cause (see Suicer, Thesaurus Eccles. sub. roc.). (See Martyrs).

Stephen was in this sense the first martyr, (See Stephen), and the spiritual honors of his death tended in no small degree to raise to the most extravagant estimation, in the early Church, the value of the testimony of blood. Eventually a martyr's death was supposed, on the alleged authority of the under-named texts, to cancel all the sins of the past life ( Luke 12:50;  Mark 10:39); to supply the place of baptism ( Matthew 10:39), and at once to secure admittance to the presence of the Lord in Paradise ( Matthew 5:10-12). In imitation of the family custom of annually commemorating at the grave the death of deceased members, the churches celebrated the deaths of their martyrs by prayers at their graves, and by love-feasts. From this high estimation of the martyrs, Christians were sometimes led to deliver themselves up voluntarily to the public authorities — thus justifying the charge of fanaticism brought against them by the heahen. the. For the most part, however, this practice was discountenanced, the words of Christ himself being brought against it ( Matthew 10:23; see Gieseler, Eccles. Hist. 1:109, 110). For monographs, see Volbeding, Index Programmatum, p. 75, 116. (See Confessor).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

This word means properly a witness, and is applied in the New Testament— 1. To judicial witnesses (;;;;;;; ). 2. To one who has testified, or can testify to the truth of what he has seen, heard, or known. This is a frequent sense in the New Testament: as in;;;;;;;;;;;; , and elsewhere. 3. The meaning of the word which has now become the most usual, is that in which it occurs most rarely in the Scripture, i.e., one who by his death bears witness to the truth. In this sense we only find it in;; . This now exclusive sense of the word was brought into general use by the early ecclesiastical writers, who applied it to everyone who suffered death in the Christian cause. Stephen was in this sense the first martyr [STEPHEN]; and the spiritual honors of his death tended in no small degree to raise to the most extravagant estimation, in the early church, the value of the testimony of blood. Eventually a martyr's death was supposed, on the alleged authority of the under-named texts, to cancel all the sins of the past life ; to supply the place of baptism and at once to secure admittance to the presence of the Lord in Paradise . In imitation of the family custom of annually commemorating at the grave the death of deceased members, the churches celebrated the deaths of their martyrs by prayer at their graves, and by love-feasts. From this high estimation of the martyrs, Christians were sometimes led to deliver themselves up voluntarily to the public authorities—thus justifying the charge of fanaticism brought against them by the heathen. For the most part, however, this practice was discountenanced, the words of Christ himself being brought against it (; see Gieseler, Ecclesiastes Hist. i. 109, 110).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mar´tẽr ( μαρτύς , martús , Aeolic μαρτύρ , martúr ): One who gives heed, and so, a "witness," so translated in numerous passages, both as of one bearing testimony, and also as of one who is a spectator of anything (see Witness ). In the King James Version rendered "martyr" in  Acts 22:20 , "thy martyr Stephen"; and  Revelation 2:13 , "Antipas my faithful martyr"; also  Revelation 17:6 , "the blood of the martyrs of Jesus," where alone the American Standard Revised Version retains "martyrs." These 3 passages are the beginning of the use of the word "martyr" for such witnesses as were faithful even unto death, its uniform modern use.